When you think about the most important things you do for your health, a few topics come to mind. A healthy and balanced diet is, of course, among them, together with exercise and enjoying your downtime with friends and family. Still, we tend to forget completely about the one thing we spend so much of our time on – namely sleep.

A healthy lifestyle is three-fold and consists of diet, exercise, and sufficient sleep; not getting enough of the latter can lead to weight gain, heart problems, and generally just dumb us down.

Here is how you can use a good night’s rest to lose weight, feel better, and contribute to the public safety when you’re out on the road.

The Numbers

Sure, the amount of sleep each person needs is individual and may vary – while the general rule is seven to eight hours, you may very well need more during different stages of your life. Only forty percent of Americans are able to get about six hours of sleep every day, though, which isn’t good news at all. Some fatal disasters around the world may have been caused by sleep deprivation, by the way, such as the nuclear incident on Three Mile Island in 1979 as well as The Challenger Explosion in 1986.

While most of the incidents in the article above were due to human error, experts are speculating whether a lack of sleep may have been the reason for it – and when you know what sleep deprivation can do to you, it just seems even more likely.

Sleep and Weight

We could talk psychology and cognitive functions for hours when it comes to sleep deprivation and weight, so have a look at this thorough article from tuck.com/sleep if you need more details. Let’s keep it simple for now; when you need more sleep, your brain is under the impression that you’re going through hard times, so it tells you to keep eating.

Eat bigger portions, more calories, as often as possible, anything we can get our hands on to keep our energy levels up – it’s about surviving, after all.

It makes sense, in a way, and it’s typical to forget about how primal we still are when it comes to weight loss. A lack of sleep means that we need to get the energy from somewhere, and this somewhere is going to be food.

Go to bed a bit earlier from now on, implement a bedtime schedule, and make your bedroom heavenly by investing in a new mattress. Have a look at mattress.review to get the shopping over with as soon as possible, and wake up rested for once.

Digging a bit deeper into the topic, it’s obvious to anyone who has gone through a day or two without adequate rest that our brain isn’t quite up to date. A bit more confused, somewhat slower – it’s not just a feeling, though, as studies have shown just how affected our decision-making is after only one night without proper sleep.

Poor decision-making means that we’re unable to keep the calorie-beast under control, and we’ll turn away from the gym and towards junk-food instead. Great stuff, right,?

A balanced diet, an active lifestyle, and adequate sleep – it’s the perfect recipe for weight loss. If you’re overworked and tired but unable to shed that weight even though you’re eating right and exercising, you may have the answer right here.

It’s a way more pleasant way to lose weight that burning it off on a treadmill, that’s for sure, and with enough hours in dreamland, you’ll be able to exercise for longer and feel a lot better.